Im looking for some guidance. My 68 sportwagon has some significant rust in the front of the frame. Are there any other frames that would fit or interchange? Newer estate wagons? Any help would be much appreciated! Greg
The side frame rail behind the front frame horns looks pretty bad to me. A Sport wagon is an A-body so a big car frame, like one from an Estate wagon would not help. What you would need would be a frame from either a 68-72 A-Body wagon, or one from a 68-72 El Camino. The El Camino frames are boxed. I am not sure if the Sport wagon frames are but either would work. Both would give you the longer wheel base and the different frame section at the rear. If your car does not have a boxed frame and you end up using one, then you will need to change the trans cross member to the convertible style, that are shorter. You could also use a 4-door frame and cut off/weld the rear section of your frame to it if it is ok. That would give you another option if you could not find the right frame for your car. Duane
John Osborne had a '71 Sportwagon frame for sale, a while back. Maybe he still has it. http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/1972-sport-wagon-parts-available.314004/#post-2596066
"I thought the el Camino frames were a little bit shorter? Thank you for the info!" No I don't think so, They have the 116" wheel base, the same front frame section, and the same rear section as the wagons. The reason they are different (from a 2 or 4-door) in the back is because of the "flat floor" back there. The rear frame on the 2 & 4-door A-bodies goes up in the back due to the trunk and gas tank filler neck. You need to check your Sport wagon and make sure your wheel base is 116". I definitely would not want to repair your frame. If it is that bad in the front, and is boxed like I think it is, then all kinds of stuff gets stuck in the frame rails and unless you get it out, it will retain moisture and rust. I had a convertible frame rot out in the same place as what you are showing and replaced the entire frame. When I cut the side rail reinforcement sections off, the original side rails were almost at the point of looking like Swiss cheese, due to the amount of dirt that had packed up in them. If you go to the "How to build an X-Camino" thread and look on page 2, you will see the Frame I put together for my car, which is basically an El Camino frame. That should look like your frame in the back. Duane
im looking at the chassis manual and it says the "sportwagon" is 121 inches and other wagons are "116". I measured mine just to confirm, and it is 121". It is boxed and I agree, im sure there is much more hiding than I am aware of..